Ricciardo reveals 'last chance' approach with F1 decision looming

Daniel Ricciardo has revealed he is approaching the final 10 grands prix of this season as if they are his last in F1 with his future yet to be resolved.

Ricciardo has endured an unusual campaign where he set out with every intention of returning to Red Bull only to find himself fighting to retain his seat at RB.

Even after Sergio Perez was handed a one-plus-one contract extension in early June, the Mexican's miserable run of form opened the door again at Red Bull, only for the team to surprise many by confirming he would continue after the summer break.

That has left Ricciardo again wondering what the future holds, particularly with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko announcing that a decision on test and reserve driver Liam Lawson is due to be revealed in September.

Regardless of the circumstances, Ricciardo is a different person and driver to the one who looked lost and bereft in his second - and what proved to be his final - season with McLaren that sparked considerable introspection before being picked up by Red Bull as test driver.

Suggested to Ricciardo in an exclusive interview with RacingNews365 he is still a driver hungry for success and confident he has what it takes, the Australian said: "It is genuinely how I feel.

"When you're going through it, I knew my results [at McLaren] weren't good. I knew I was struggling. But you still feel like, 'Alright, this weekend, I'll figure it out. I'll do it'.

"You think you're still the best version of yourself, but I knew I wasn't. I can comfortably say that, and I think having that time off last year, I could see clearly that I wasn't beaming with confidence. I wasn't really believing in myself, and all these things.

"I was having doubts and questions and that led to me wanting the time off as well."

Ricciardo 'going all in'

Ricciardo returned to F1 just over a year ago with then AlphaTauri, only to suffer a badly broken finger in the third event of his comeback that forced him onto the sidelines for five races.

Despite renewed purpose coming into this season, the results have primarily been lacking, with Ricciardo scoring just 12 from 14 races, 10 points behind team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

He maintains, however, that he feels "like I did a year ago here". Referring to media and marketing engagements to focus on racing, he added: "I feel excited. I feel motivated. I truly have cut a lot of things out as well to make sure that this is my priority.

"Yes, of course, we have little ventures on the side but if I felt things were distracting me, maybe I would deny that they were.

"Now I'm much more aware of everything else going on and if something's too much, I'm saying it's too much or I'm not doing it.

"I am fully motivated I'm fully focused. I appreciate that I don't know if I've got one year left, five years left, so I'm treating it like it is truly my last chance.

"I don't want to hang the helmet up and be like, damn, I should have spoken up when I should have, I should have done that differently.

"So I'm in a good place because I'm comfortable within myself and I'm comfortable with the approach I'm taking and going all in."